Selfie for Attention: Practice of Hijab Selfie on Instagram
Abstract
This paper studies digital self-portraiture (the ‘Selfie’), a social phenomenon and part of modern life. The Selfiecity research project (2014) demonstrates that selfies are mostly done by women. However, there is little research related to the so-called ‘hijab selfie’. Hijabed women deal with the tension between religious norms and their desire to be recognized. This paper considers the practice of hijab selfies using Foucault’s concept, technologies of the self. This study also applies Theo van Leeuwen’s social semiotics. This study is based on the compilation account @jilbab_chantik, an active account with more than 39,000 followers. Instagram is considered a space to celebrate the freedom of self-representation. Attention is indicated by the number of likes, comments, and increasing follower numbers. This compilation account @jilbab_chantik facilitates the desire of hijab women to add followers attaining their desire for recognition.
Keywords: Hijab Selfie, Instagram, Practice, Desire, Attention
References
[1] Murray, D. C. (2015). Notes to Self: The Visual Culture of Selfies in the Age of Social Media. Consumption Markets & Culture, vol. 18, issue 6, pp. 490-516.
[2] The Guardian. (2013, July). How Selfie Became a Global Phenomenon. Retrieved from http://www. theguardian.com/technology/2013/jul/13/how-selfies-became-a-global-phenomenon
[3] Veum, A. and Undrum, L. (2017). The Selfie as a Global Discourse. Discourse and Society, vol. 29, issue 1, pp. 86-103.
[4] Tiidenberg, K. and Cruz, E.G. (2015). Selfies, Image and the Re-Making of the Body. Body & Society, vol. 21, issue 4, pp. 77–102.
[5] Heryanto, A. (2015). Identitas dan Kenikmatan Politik Budaya Layar Indonesia. Jakarta: Gramedia.
[6] Kavakci, E. and Kraeplin, C.R. (2017). Religious Beings in Fashionable Bodies: the Online Identity Construction of Hijabi Social Media Personalities. Media Culture and Society, vol. 39, issue 6, pp. 850-868.
[7] Senft, T.M. and Baym, N. K. (2015) What Does the Selfie Say? Investigating a Global Phenomenom. International Journal of Communication, vol. 9, pp. 1588-1606.
[8] Schwarz, O. (2010). On Friendship, Boobs, and the Logic of Catalogue: Online Self-Portraits as a Means for the Exchange of Capital. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Medai Technologies, vol. 16, issue 2, pp. 163-183.
[9] Time. (2016, July). A Brief History of Instagram’s Fateful First Day. Retrieved from https://time.com/ 4408374/instagram-anniversary/.
[10] Kress, G. and van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading Images: The Grammar of Visual Design (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
[11] Foucault, M. (1998). Technologies of the Self: A Seminar with Michael Foucault. London: Tavistock.
[12] Peraica, A. (2017). Culture of the Selfie: Self-Representation in Contemporary Visual Culture. Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures.